Karl Rove Accuses Obama of “Hyperventilating” Over New Arizona Immigration Law

Karl Rove took to Newsweek today to defend Arizona’s new immigration law. He accuses President Obama of playing politics, an obscure tactic used by elected officials when publicly discussing controversial legislation. “Rather than forge a coalition on reform, Obama is content to use the issue to secure Latino votes—if not for Democrats in this fall’s contests, then for his reelection. He willingly mischaracterizes the Arizona law because doing so benefits his party and himself,” Rove writes. The former Bush aide argues that the law won’t affect as many people as Obama is insinuating—hence the “hyperventilating” allegation—and contends that the federal guidelines for immigration enforcement could lead to more “racial profiling” than the Arizona law. Buried deep in the middle of the polemic is the convincing appraisal that Obama’s record on immigration reform is somewhat lacking. “For example, he devoted only 38 words out of the 7,290 in this year’s State of the Union address to the subject,” Rove notes. It’s a slight departure from Rove’s more ambivalent position back in April, when he defended the bill but recognized the legitimacy of its critics’ concerns. “I think there is going to be some constitutional problems with the bill. I wished they hadn’t passed it, in a way,” he said, according to TPM. Obama registered complaints in April too, calling the law misguided and claiming that it “threaten[ed] to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe,” according to the Associated Press. Both these men are hyperventilating uncontrollably, is what this is.